CURWENSVILLE — Two of the leading scorers in District 9 will be in the spotlight when the No. 3 seed Curwensville Area High School girls basketball team goes against No. 2 seed Redbank Valley in the first game of a Class AA semifinal doubleheader at Clarion High School Wednesday evening.
Lady Tide 5-9 senior Ciara Strickland is No. 1 with 512 points and a 22.3 average.
Lady Bulldog 5-8 junior Brooke Hinderliter, a two-time All American Awards and Engraving D9sports.com All-District first team and a 2014 Class AA all-state third team selection, is No. 3 with 473 points and a 20.6 average.
Both guards joined the 1,000-Point Club in early December and have gone on to become the all-time leading pointmakers for their programs.
Strickland needed only one basket in Curwensville’s opener against Moshannon Valley in Patton Hall Dec. 8, two nights after Hinderliter reached that plateau with the 15th of her 24 points against the hosts in the finals of the Brockway Tip-Off Tournament.
Their supporting casts have contributed at an equally-similar pace, too, as the Golden Tide are averaging 49.3 points and the Lady Bulldogs are averaging 48.9.
Curwensville coach Rusty McCracken will send out senior Heather Thorp (75 points, 3.3 ppg), junior Shauna Guy (131, 6.2 ppg) and sophomores Hannah Dixon (215, 9.8 ppg) and Christine Limbert (158, 6.9 ppg) along with Strickland. Limbert is averaging more than 13 rebounds, while Thorp is averaging almost seven assists.
Those five stayed on the floor as a unit until the final 13 seconds of their come-from-behind 44-39 quarterfinal win over No. 6 seed Brockway at DuBois Area High School last Wednesday, junior Kayli Sedgwick coming off the bench when Guy fouled out.
Starters also accounted for all the points in Redbank Valley’s 42-31 victory over No. 7 seed Kane the same night with Hinderliter joined by 5-11 junior forward Becca Dougherty (179 points, 7.8 ppg), 5-10 senior forward Kaelyn Gruver (167, 7.3), 5-7 senior guard Cassie Fink (120, 5.2 ppg) and 5-5 senior guard Megan Bain (109, 5.0).
The similarities don’t end there, as both teams are 17-6 for the six o’clock tipoff, with Moshannon Valley League champion Curwensville riding a seven-game winning streak into its first district semifinal since 2007.
Redbank Valley’s season has been one of several streaks.
The Lady Bulldogs won all eight December games, grabbing championships in the Brockway Tip-Off Tournament and the Redbank Valley Christmas Tournament.
They lost three games the first week in January, bounced back with six wins in a row and then alternated three-game losing and winning streaks.
Five of the losses came in the very competitive Keystone Shortway Athletic Conference South Division as they finished behind Karns City (9-1), Keystone (8-2) and Moniteau (6-4) with a 5-5 record. Their other loss was to KSAC-North Division titlist Venango Catholic 60-56.
No. 1 seed Karns City, which beat Venango Catholic for the KSAC championship, and No. 4 seed Moniteau will meet in the 7:30 nightcap at Clarion.
Kane is one of three common opponents for Curwensville and Redbank Valley.
The Lady Bulldogs beat the Lady Wolves twice while the Lady Tide split with their AML rival, losing 51-46 in December and winning 55-35 at home Feb. 6.
Three of Curwensville’s wins came at the expense of Brockway, which Redbank Valley beat 48-43 in the season-opening tourney. The Lady Tide triumphed 67-47 and 47-40 in AML-South Division meetings.
The Lady Bulldogs beat DuBois Central Catholic 45-30 in the first game of the Brockway tourney. The Lady Tide lost twice to the Lady Cardinals, 40-30 in December and 60-36 in late January.
The game will be broadcast by WOKW-FM, 92.9, with the pre-game show beginning at 5:45.
Lady Tide Scoreboard:
| Date | Opponent | Score | Record |
| 12/08 | MO VALLEY | 61 – 45 | 1 – 0 |
| 12/09 | BROCKWAY | 67 – 46 | 2 – 0 |
| 12/12 | @ Ridgway | 42 – 36 | 3 – 0 |
| 12/19 | @ Kane | 46 – 51 | 3 – 1 |
| 12/29 | @ Clearfield | 66 – 40 | 4 – 1 |
| 01/02 | DUBOIS CENTRAL | 30 – 40 | 4 – 2 |
| 01/05 | WEST BRANCH | 58 – 37 | 5 – 2 |
| 01/06 | @ Johnsonburg | 60 – 47 | 6 – 2 |
| 01/08 | HARMONY | ppd. | 6 – 2 |
| 01/13 | @ Elk County Catholic | 25 – 52 | 6 – 3 |
| 01/15 | @ Mo Valley | 50 – 30 | 7 – 3 |
| 01/20 | RIDGWAY | 48 – 49 | 7 – 4 |
| 01/22 | HARMONY | 47 – 38 | 8 – 4 |
| 01/23 | @ Brockway | 47 – 40 | 9 – 4 |
| 01/26 | @ DuBois Central | ppd. | 9 – 4 |
| 01/27 | @ DuBois Central | 33 – 60 | 9 – 5 |
| 01/28 | GLENDALE | 50 – 33 | 10 – 5 |
| 01/30 | JOHNSONBURG | 38 – 51 | 10 – 6 |
| 02/03 | @ Sheffield | 63 – 36 | 11 – 6 |
| 02/04 | @ Glendale | 55 – 43 | 12 – 6 |
| 02/06 | KANE | 55 – 35 | 13 – 6 |
| 02/09 | @ Harmony | 46 – 40 | 14 – 6 |
| 02/11 | @ West Branch | 51 – 44 | 15 – 6 |
| 02/13 | CLEARFIELD | 51 – 28 | 16 – 6 |
| 02/18 | District 9 AA Playoffs | ||
| 02/18 | vs. Brockway @ DuBois 7:30 | 44 – 39 | 17 – 6 |
| 02/25 | vs. Redbank Valley @ Clarion |